VBA welcomes water damage report recommendations

The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) says it will take on findings from a new study highlighting ways to reduce water and indoor mould damage risk.

The report, which the VBA commissioned, will be used to help inform and consider policy changes to the government body’s Proactive Inspection Program (PIP) to identify potential faults earlier.

“Waterproofing and drainage have been among the top risks highlighted in our quarterly PIP reports – we are sharing these findings with practitioners to better educate the wider industry on how to improve the quality of building and plumbing work in high-risk areas,” VBA State Building Surveyor Andrew Cialini said.

The study was led by researchers from Victoria University who used domestic building claims data from the Victorian Managed Insurance Agency (VMIA) to identify that at least 92% of the 2187 claims analysed involved one water-related defect.

The researchers say they conducted a deeper analysis of a “representative sample” of the claims to look at factors likely to lead to mould, noting complex design work as a potential “root cause” of questionable construction efforts that could infract with a building’s waterproof capabilities.

Reviews of inspection and building reports identified repeated patterns of “problematic building and plumbing work” that it says is “likely to result in moisture damage and indoor mould”.

The study also raises the possibility of a general misunderstanding of roofing and waterproof requirements in the designing, building and plumbing industry.

“Practitioners are expected to follow building processes that result in buildings that are durable and resilient to the elements in accordance with the building regulations. To protect consumers the VBA will not hesitate to discipline and penalise poor performers accordingly,” Mr Cialini said.

The report recommends builders and other workers be mindful of the threat of water-related damage, particularly in high-risk areas of balcony design and construction, and the consequences of poor property waterproofing.

It calls for increased oversight to ensure buildings maintain roofing and waterproofing standards, including incorporating technology such as drones to support safe roof inspection.

The researchers acknowledge the study’s sample size is limited, saying that the observations for “the broader built environment was beyond the scope of the study”.

The VBA will host a webinar with leading researcher Dr Tim Law on February 9 to discuss the study and share the results.

Click here for the report.

Click here for more information on the webinar.